that's it, it seems that it was yesterday and also so long ago at the same time! as you had already guess, this is the hundredth post on the wild balcony, increasingly devoted to flowers but I am planning other things for the future - only time will tell if they will be accomplished...some stories here-and-theresome paintings from time-to-timeand ZAAAS, there are already 100 posts! does not seem at first sight, but still gave me some work, took me some energy, called me much dedication but gave me many joys doing it and reading your comments, which are the strength of a blogger, and who does not like to receive them?

it is indeed a real universe, a victory of communications detachment, of sharing of things that give us joy or that is in our interest. and with the balcony I feel I am part of that universe, even if (and I am) a huge drop in global ocean ...

and go to the recent visits map and discover visitors out of countries as distant as China or Australia, discover that Brazil and Angola are also present, discover many of our near-neighbors of our Portugal?I can not help but smile to accompany these maps and see that we can get all over Earth: a journey around the world in order to discover that in the midst of so many differences, some overtime, after all we are moved by that same impulse! the human impulse to share the things we really like ...

and so come the end of this mission, now the goal is to continue into the post 1000, perhaps in a couple of years, who knows? and there for the year 2040 re-read the first entries and remember how this balcony was and what would give me happiness and, perhaps, to share this with someone who also like to see it...to the end I reserve thanks for all the visits and the ever more-that-welcome comments and hope that these macros digitally forged, the same flowers as always, welcome your understanding and you can still convey the warmth of the colors of summer !

o jardim aquático que postei anteriormente já tem uma flor! em boa verdade já está nas últimas mas, como nunca mais dei notícias dele, aqui vai na mesma...os narcisos deram-se extraordinarmente bem só com a água, mas os outros 2 ou 3 que lhes juntei nem por isso: pouco cresceram e por isso já nem ideia tenho do que eram ;Poutra coisa que notei, ou melhor percebi, foi a diferença de crescimento óbvia entre os narcisos, o mais provável é serem de cores diferentes: daí o conselho sempre constante de não misturar bolbos diferentes para evitar estas situações... o problema é que eu não resisto a tapar todos os espacinhos livres com novos exemplares!quando uns estiverem a secar e outros ainda verdinhos é que vão ser elas...there's a flower in the water garden that has previously posted! in truth the flower is almost over, but as i didn't gave any news of it since then, here goes the update...the daffodils have done exceptionaly and only with water, but the other 2 or 3 bulbs that i have joined not really: just grew a little and so now I have no idea of what were, Panother thing I noticed, or better, I understood, was the obvious difference in growth among the daffodils, the more likely they are of different colors: hence the advice always given to not mix different bulbs, avoiding these situations... the problem is that I do not resist to plug all free space with new ones!when some are to dry and some still green the problem is going to arrive for sure...

as i had promised before here are some recent photos of our Dendrobium nobile. for now only has 4 flowers, but there are a few more in the pipeline... later i'll show it when in full bloom, it will be beautiful as when we arrived last year!this type of orchid is very easy to maintain in good condition: moderate enough water and give it some sunny spot and it will be happy, at least here, in the balcony ...also with so much reading how could it be unhappy?! and for the nights of insomnia how about reading some Proust, perfect sleeping night is completly assured from the first paragraph ;p

this Dendrobium was our 2nd purchase in orchids, and i may say it was the orchids mini-collection beggining.it is also the second to re-bloom here at home, and now, becoming a habit for flowering success, my care label at the end of the post...these orchids-reeds, or small-cane as I call it, store water in your body-long tank, so moderate and spaced few rules and a good ventilation are essential! as it has it's one reservoir will not show any signs of thirst, just water when you see that has the dry substrate.a curiosity for those who do not know: each vegetative node (do not know if it is quite word) has only one leaf and flower is only once (in the photo you can see where the flowers were last year) but the sam cane may give flowers in different years!in this case the cane will be more green in the middle and flowering at top and bottom. and those that are folded, sprouts when we bought it, also have one or two stems beggining to grow ...

my care: Dendrobium nobile-substrate: light and airy-pot: the smallest possible and preferably with some extra holes one sides-rules: spaced, leaving the soil dry, with no water limestone (although this drink tap water lots of times)-light: shade with some direct sun, more in autumn and winter-humidity: create some moister environment with a dish with stones and water-they grow quite big so put the pot inside another and fill with rocks to take weight and stability (try to keep the whole airy)

it's sun and heat at the end of this winter!over the balcony it seems the spring have already arrived for some time, and these cutters show it well, promising a full season in yellows. it is curious that the yellow plants (and roses too) are the first to bloom, maybe coincidence?it is true that here and there are some notes in shades of red or purple, but the yellow dominates since a while...

of these cutters, planted during autumn, we did't had a real notion of how much they were gorgeous, even with the picture we didn't realize that, just taking notes of huge range of colors, and as there weren't any around,the destiny had bring them here! in good time I have done it, because not only are generously abundant, as are flowers of a beautiful lush sound, the way of small roses, but very different from the simplicity that we thought ...

you were already missing a leg-of-gardener here! by the way more focused that the flowers i wanted, but ultimately, the intruders decide to make up surreptitiously in macros ...in this case it was a friendly and well intentioned visit, giving some extra visibility to a clearly frustrated photograph! even pacman seems to be walking around, eating squares instead of circles...

You already know that I'm always walking around the garden but, for more searches i do, there is always something that escapes me!even on the past few days I was whining to myself that I would never have tulips in the balcony, that the flowers would rise a little but never openig, the balcony was too hot for them, etc etc ...I was seeing the same happening this year, going the same sad path, havening not noticed this tulip until i drop over it, much less that it had already formed the button... should be because the red-blood color isn't enough contrasting with the surrouding green ;P and even recently I was taking pictures of, in the same pot, hyacinths and not seen anything! in fact I actually see very well, but sometimes I look like a deepness mole, one of those which never comes to the surface...

I'd just get the prize DARTS given by Nélio from the blog "pequenos nadas 2" http://pequenosnadas2-nelio.blogspot.com/ PRIZE FOR WHAT I am very grateful, but there are 3 rules to accomplish: 1 -ACCEPT AND SHOW THE PRIZE IMAGE 2 -Link the blog from wich I received the prize 3 -Nominate 15 blogs over to receive the prize DARTS

there's not many flowers in my garden at the moment, but from time-to-time there is an early bloomer, one that anticipates its kind and wich is coming from nowhere!for now they are mainly bulbs, but also some cacti and, soon, succulents...

this one here is a Anemonen hollandia red,one of several that I planted for the very first time this year. unfortunately I think they are all red, but they are so graceful that there is no reason for regretson the mono-colour! they qrrived here for remembering the fields of wild poppies in summer, and who does not like these fine marches in their midst?

the Tray of cacti have also smelled the heat, and one of the newcomers have a few blooming flowers. cactus in bloom is always an event, even for non-big fan of them, which clearly is not my case! unfortunately the pictures are not very clear because I was lazy to change the tray to a site more photogenic, as is so small is not easy to shoot with our average digital camera. the macros are not well focused, unless from a certain distance, which is a major handicap. of course that I could, otherwise, use the film-camera (just for curiosity it's a real war-machine of photojournalism-literally, a Nikon FM2, which takes stunning photos! unfortunately this are times of crisis, and reveal photos gets rather expensive, not to mention I have no scanner for negatives). I still think they came out fine, how not? having a flower so elegantly contrasting with the gelatinous body, a small daisy in a crown of thorns ... now, this cactus is still to be identified, if anyone have any suggestions of what it is I'll be happy to hear them :)

this is the last I have to show, the cactus is also to identify, and therefore appreciate suggestions, for the moment the flower is the only one, among dozens, that has already showing it's race. I find it rather curious: it seems made of metallized straw, and has a vivid color contrasting with the really green body! Evolving tactics of survival, certainly, do you think Darwin saw one on his beagle adventures? sure that the many beautiful colors and sublime differences within each gender would give him something to think about... I am a layman but this was meant to be a joke in the way of our technological-prime-minister-engineer..

this is our tropical corner, which is just a small corner of the kitchen, steam powered by the espresso-machine...for my relatively small experience, this is a place with good conditions for cultivating orchids and bromeliads, but of course, this last ones will make up just fine anywhere with no intense sun.

though some plants have been added to compose the picture, the general appearance is more-or-less close to reality!

I do not remember if I had shown this window around here, the window of the living-room, which like all the others is well composed, so to speak. the plants are some that I have shown here, at least those with flowers! it seems they like the window, isn't it? although with so much sun for this time of season it would be difficult to be otherwise... in exchange for some water and little care we received [thank you] the wonderful perfume and increasingly varied and colorful flowers [for now daffodils, Muscari, hyacinths and Euphorbia]

saying goodbye to the dreary rain of winter, earlier flowering bulbs decided to take advantage of this recent spring sun, showing its beautiful colors. I have made some posts on this topic but now i'll do a short little summary-compilation with illustrative photos of them...

these are some of the first blooming Crocus, for now only with this color, I have scattered around. for those who do not know, as I did not know, the saffron (the same as we all have in the kitchen) is not more than the pollen of tens of thousands of Crocus. is something to think of, as they are minimum quantities for each one and collect it is certainly a Herculean task! The saffron was for centuries the richness of that lost paradise that is Kashmir: just read something that the more-than-fantastic Salman Rushdie wrote, for example the amazing novel Shalimar the clown, to dream with the endless fields of this martyr-almost-enclave near eden. when I read the book I knew nothing of these simple but spectacular flowers, but still I was transported in time and space for such remote latitudes: running and jumping at those fields ,but without pollen. wich, except the smell, is quite similar to that of lilies and hybiscus. and wich cling to the clothes the same viscous way...

will it be this time i'll have tulips?! after some initial enthusiasm to see some color on the buttons appear, they are stalled once again: it seems that emerge too early for the size of the plants, maybe a heat effect?so I hope some of them still flower, but conversely I am not at all optimistic. it is a shame because this parrot tulips seemed to be really beautiful on thepackaging photo...

this is a Muscari armeniacum, one of the many that began to grow everywhere in the balcony. I no longer remember I had bought so many ;PI find them very curious because the flowers seems a inverted bunch of grapes with matching color, although I think they are more suited to edge of paths than for vessels! it's a pitty they are so tinny, is being so little, we barely see them so isolated ...

this is the same narcissus from the last post, now with a different perspective and with a helping hand in sexy pose for the photo. they are beautiful and seem very prolific and easy to maintain, at least until the heat arrival ... I think I bought many different of these, but I do not know if all will be yellow, I do not remember ;P i'll say something when...

and finally some more recent photos of Hyacinthus, now grown and with the flowers reaching it's peak. first came the rpink, but now the delft blue are starting to dominate. these are fantastic plants, with flowers almost made from wax and intense aroma as refreshing fresh flowers perfume. this is the first time that I grow hyacinths, but from now on they will be a must on the balcony, without a doubt! and adding to this, they are top erotic flowers as can be seen by the photo on the right: male-goat as they say in soap-operas ;p

cá está ele, lindo a fazer juz à família. por enquanto é o primeiro, mas muitos mais virão espero eu! este ano foi o ano dos bolbos para mim, plantei centenas deles aqui na varanda e os narcisos foram obviamente incluídos no pacote, estando espalhados por todos os vasos solitários ou em grupos. no passado já tive lírios, crocosmania e hemerocallis, mas a minha experiência em bolbos ficava-se por aí. desta vez compramos um pouco de tudo e assim só os vou reconhecendo à medida que florescem pois não marquei nenhum com etiquetas...pouco a pouco vou aprendendo a reconhecer as diferenças entre eles, e a descobrir a melhor localização e cuidados para cada um, tudo por comparação [acho que influenciado pela inundação bi-centenária de um certo senhor de outros tempos, mas mais moderno do que nunca];e pouco paciente vou sonhando com a maré de flores primaveris que se avizinha no horizente, e com as fotografias, iguais a tantas outras mas diferentes ao meu olhar, que vou poder aqui partilhar com as mais que apreciadas visitas!here he is, beautiful as all his family members. for now it's the first one to bloom, but many more will come, I hope! this year was the year of bulbs to me, as I planted hundreds of them here on the balcony, and the daffodils were obviously included in the package, being scattered in all vessels solitary or in groups. in the past I had lilies, hemerocallis and crocosmania, but my experience in bulbs ended up there. this time we bought a little of everything, but as usual I didn't mark any, so i'll recognise them only with blooming... step by step I learn to recognize the differences between them, and find the best location and care for each, by comparing all [I think influenced by the bi-centenary flood of someone known of you, but more modern than ever]; and less patient with the tide I dream of spring flowers in the future horizon; with the photos, like so many other but different to my eyes, that I can share here with all you, dear visitors!

following the winter rain, the sun shined briefly during these last wet days, giving new joy to the balcony. as you can see is not a euphemism or any other figure-of-style, it is really wild our balcony! with these recent water benefits, despite the stormy wind, planting flowers are promising a fresh and colorful summer... clear that the sun baths of that lost deserted beach have evaporated forever, but now we will be able to pic-nic in height in the city heart, freeze-still in the middle of the peaks and branches, difficult but possible...not too long ago the vegetation was just a few pots here and there, and many fuzz-balls of endless portuguese public works dragged by the wind. not speaking of the excellent sound amplifier that is a naked-green balcony!

there are many examples here of all kinds, lost and scattered at random with some obscure intention promptly forgotten and wich now I do not remember, but there are also islands of specific types such as cacti and succulents and bulbs or strawberries ...I like to believe that in the midst of apparent chaos there is a certain order, even if intangible, and that, despite the contradictory photographs, all are mostly in the most appropriate locations. although in most cases they will end up in some completely different place!

the hyacinths were the first bulbs to bloom here, on the balcony, specifically the pink Hyacinthus. I knew that each type of bulb comes in its own time, and this is certainly a factor that should have been taken into account. but the attraction of chaos spoke stronger and so this box finished with 3 Hyacinthus, a pink [which has flower] and 2 delft blue still in a embryonic phase. it is curious that seem different stages of the same flower, as if they were clones of different ages... also with 2 allium molly which already apparent have flower buds too, and 2 unknown tulips, on which I have many reservations about the success, but did not resist to add ;p

on my blogosphere journeys I found some spectacular terrarium, true recreations of micro-environments, with exotic local fauna included!what a gorgeous thing must be to see one face-to-face ...this one shown here it's obviously more modest, didn't need to be said, but in the balcony it is the only one, so he'll also have his own minutes-of-fame.as it is easy to see, this are only two phone-boxes [again] overlap, and therefore even more is a kind of micro-terrarium, just as it is reused as recycled, but ultimately, what counts is the intention, isn't it?with a very small volume was required to be inhabited by a small plant. in this case I elected Selaginella, which since the change, no more stopped growing. it must have enjoyed the wet environment, with large drops of water droping their peculiar leaves, though I only barely water it. is perhaps why it assumed the form of a large bonsai-tree...a plant that is very interesting and beautiful in its own way, an echo of a prehistoric past, clearly audible in its structure where long aerial roots from the leaves fall as jungle of lianas-without-tarzans, and part in search of virgin land. ..the lush green also stimulates the imagination, giving me the image of other times and other landscapes: the stork as to be careful, there are dinosaurs on the loose out there! at least judging by the literature...

here is one of my cactus garden, in this case it's the last I built. it already a few months old but, given the mini-gardens flood on the blog, I decided to wait some weeks before show it around here... i was able to iron some edges that were forgotten in the previous ones, by ignorance or lack of experience, and put into practice some ideas now that I was blathering.

built according to a distorted and inverted automobile logic, I used a small tray of cacti as body to support the various elements that compose it [glasses, cups and other pieces of plastic] at different levels. as the base is small this effect is not as strong as thought, but even so it is perceived better than the photographs that tend to flatten reality. the idea was to make the garden on different platforms of varying height and size, but maintaining a physical separation of the roots of each cactus [only to facilitate any future operation, or plastic surgery]. it went well and was much easier than expected ...

depois de ter a carroçaria já montada com os cactinhos chegou a vez de construír um chassis que fosse forte o suficiente para aguentar o peso do jardim e dos acabamentos em pedras da região. pelos outros já tinha uma boa ideia de como podem ser enganadores neste aspecto! para os mais curiosos usei umas pranchas de madeira de umas paletes velhas que tinha no sotão e montei uma espécie de cama em miniatura com travessas em vez de fundo, para não acumular muita humidade.after the body has mounted with mini-cactus reached the turn to build a chassis strong enough to bear the weight of the garden and stone finishes [region stones of course!]. by the other I had a pretty good idea of how they can be misleading in this respect! I used, for the most curious one, a few planks of wood pallets that I had in the old attic and mount a kind of miniature bed with sleepers instead of ground, not to accumulate too much moisture.

no fim foi só encaixar a bandeja com os cactos dentro da estrutura e preencher os espaços com substracto, areia e saibro do rio, e acabar o jardim com mais umas pedras, de maiores dimensões, do nosso agrado!se se derem bem acho que vai ficar uma bela máquina, praí com us 17 cavalos-cacto!in order to finish i put the tray [by now only with the cactus] in the structure and fill the spaces with substrate, sand and gravel from the river, and finish the garden with a few more stones, the larger of our liking! if they fit well I think it will be a beautiful machine, powered by an astunishing 17-horsepower cactus!

really simple is not it? and in the end we have the will to do another immediately ... but it can only be a good sign! the problem is that I have a garage already filled.so now you know: hands to work! but always without over-speed ...